Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We will be supporting the Bill. The provisions, though technical as regards the regulation of AHBs, are an important tidying-up exercise. It is welcome that we are getting rid of this administrative burden and ensuring they remain under a proper regulatory framework. On the cost rental tenant in situ scheme, we are glad to see legislation being introduced to underpin it. The scheme could have a real impact for those who are just outside the criteria for other social housing supports but it needs to be given the teeth to do so. It is concerning that a year after the scheme was established, only 32 properties had been purchased, none of the tenants of which had been moved onto the cost rental model at that point. I am not sure if more recent data is available yet. It does not reflect well. There were approximately 100 more properties at various stages of the process at that time but really even that is a paltry number. I understand this legislation is intended to address issues that might have caused delays, which is welcome. However, the fact that only 32 properties had been purchased a year into the scheme does raise concerns. It gives the impression that the scheme was cobbled together at the last minute as a means of softening the blow of ending the eviction ban that had been in place. It would also appear that there was little, if any, engagement with AHBs in developing the scheme, although it is intended they will eventually take over the houses purchased from the Housing Agency, as we understand it.

I certainly hope that getting this scheme on a statutory footing will help to get it moving but its performance to date leaves more to be desired. In some cases, we are seeing landlords who were willing to sell their property under the scheme abandon it due to the long delays. Perhaps most concerning is the apparent lack of interest. Only 282 houses were offered. That is a drop in the ocean when compared with the level of eviction notices we have seen since the eviction ban was overturned. Again, if the Government really intends this scheme to be successful, it needs to give it teeth. That means giving local authorities and the Housing Agency the resources to step in and it means actually promoting the scheme to landlords and tenants. It is difficult to get on board with the idea that the Government really believes in the scheme when in June of this year the Minister placed a cap on the number of homes local authorities can acquire.

This is a good scheme in principle. It is a step in the right direction, moving away from private rental subsidies to actual State-led housing provision. We were slightly dismayed, therefore, when we read that in the same ministerial circular that capped local authority housing acquisitions, the Minister's Department instructs councils to direct tenants at risk of homelessness towards HAP or the RAS scheme. These are exactly the type of things we should be moving away from, using public money to subsidise excessive market rents. We should be encouraging local authorities and AHBs to acquire homes, building up our social housing stock and providing genuinely affordable homes. We should be looking to expand these sorts of schemes and not hampering them or limiting them in any way. I hope this Bill provides the impetus for the Government to really commit to this scheme.

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